What Good is a Sommelier Anyway?

Last February I attended the Meilleur Sommelier du Monde in Paris. Ever since I’ve been thinking about the relevance of such competitions and the future of the sommelier profession. On many levels the event inspired. I was impressed by the team effort; the support (mostly), the diversity and the friendships between the contestants. But I was mystified by the dust, the creakiness of an organization not willing to embrace the more modest consumer (the 99%?). And then there was their lack of acknowledgement of natural wine.